Feb. 24, 2010
LEXINGTON, Ky. — The University of Kentucky track and field team departs Thursday for the Southeastern Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships Feb. 26-28 at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark.
SEC Championship competition begins Fri., Feb. 26 at 1 p.m. CST with the men’s and women’s heptathlon and pentathlon events. Live meet results can be found at the meet’s central site by clicking the following link SEC Championship results or by visiting arkansasrazorbacks.com. A subscription based live video stream is also available at the following link live video stream.
The men and women’s track teams will put the regular season preparation to the test as they compete in the Indoor SEC Championships. The Wildcats return to Fayetteville where they competed two weekends ago at the Tyson Invitational. The University of Arkansas will host the meet.
Kentucky Head Coach Don Weber says this meet is what the teams have been working towards.
“This is a big championship for us,” Weber says. “The regular season meets prepare you to be at your very best. The significance of this meet is what the whole year is about.”
The Wildcats will look to veterans such as Colin Boevers, Ashley Muffet, Kristin Smith and Rondel Sorrillo to lead the team in SEC competition.
Sorrillo, a double NCAA automatic qualifier this season in the 60-meter dash and the 200m dash will compete in both events and also the men’s 4×400 relay.
The women’s throwers have grown to be a staple for the Wildcats and are led by senior Kristin Smith.
Smith, the varsity school record holder in the women’s weight throw, has had an impressive four NCAA provisional qualifying marks this season. She holds the school record with a throw of 20.57m (67 feet, 6 inches).
Shot putters Mary Angell, Ashley Muffet and Jennifer Svoboda join Kristin Smith to round out the women’s throwing corps. With consistent performances all season the throwers will be looked to for significant contributions this weekend.
The sole men’s thrower, junior Colin Boevers, will compete in the shot put event. Boevers, an NCAA provisional qualifier this season, goes into the meet with the potential to contribute points and place high.
Senior jumper Keenan Hall will participate in his first SEC Championship meet as a Wildcat. Hall and David Banks will compete in the long jump and triple jump for the men while Ke’Undra Bishop will jump for the women.
UK’s school record holder in the pole vault, Samantha Stenzel, will vault alongside of teammate Mary Chris Durham. Rounding out the jumping events is freshman high-jumper Zan Morgan.
Having an NCAA provisional qualifying regular season time of 3.39.94, the women’s 4×400 meter relay team has the potential to matchup strong against the competition. The relay team consists of sprinters Brittany Cabbler, Jenna Martin, Precious Nwokey and Jazmyn Shorter.
The Wildcats will also look for the men’s 4x400m relay team to have an impact on the track. The men’s relay squad probable runners will be Sean Lange, Cody Miller, Kwasi Obeng and Sharif Webb.
Seeing the athletes’ best performances is the ultimate goal of this weekend meet.
“Through our successes and our challenges along the way, we’ve learned and we’re hoping that we can put it all together and be as good as we can be at the conference meet,” Coach Weber says.
The Indoor SEC Championships will be one of the strongest conference meets in the country. Eight of the schools competing in the meet are nationally ranked in the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association top 25.
The men’s teams ranking in the top 25 are No. 3 LSU, No. 4 Florida, No. 6 Arkansas, No. 16 Auburn, No. 21 Alabama, No. 23 Kentucky, No. 25 Georgia and for the women are No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Tennessee, No. 5 LSU, No. 6 Arkansas and No. 9 Auburn.
All 12 schools in the Southeastern Conference will have athletes competing in the meet.
To watch a review of the Indoor SEC Championships, ESPNU will be airing a highlight show of the meet on Thurs., March 11th at 9 p.m. EST
For all of your UK track and field information visit UKathletics.com.
